The 4th of July is, inconveniently on a Wednesday, and the dry, searing heat has thrown a monkey wrench into some plans, which seems kind of par for the course this year don't you think? In fact it seems to us a great year to reflect on Independence Day in the context of a year that has been marked by Wisconsin citizens exercising their freedoms to their greatest degree.

Protests, and petition signing and counter protests and historic recall elections and hyper-vigorous campaigning and then voting - what better example is there of what this country and this democracy is all about. Some of it has been downright ugly, but that's when our appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy is most poignant. We are free to exercise democracy in ways many countries would never tolerate and only dream about. It's been an amazing year, for the most part because were are free to make it so.

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